ENJOY THIS NEW SYNOPTIC VIEW OF THE CONTINUING LETTERS OF PAUL TO VARIOUS DISCIPLES AND CHURCHES IN THE INFANCY OF THE CHRISTIAN ADVENT TO THE WORLD. HEREIN WE WILL COVER THE HIGH POINTS OF TITUS, PHILEMON AND PART OF THE LETTERS TO THE HEBREWS.
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO TITUS:
TITUS WAS A CONVERT OF PAUL’S FROM ANTIOCH.
HE BECAME A DISCIPLE AND A MISSIONARY.
TITUS CHAPTER 1 SYNOPSIS:
ETERNAL LIFE WAS PROMISED TO ALL OF US BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN.
(COMMENTARY: IF WE CHOOSE IT BY CHRIST, THE ONLY WAY IT CAN COME TO US.)
PAUL INSTRUCTS—
“For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision (THE JEWS), whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.”
“Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.”
TITUS CHAPTER 2 SYNOPSIS:
SAINTS (MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH) SHOULD LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY.
TITUS CHAPTER 3 SYNOPSIS:
SAINTS MUST LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY AFTER THEIR BAPTISM.
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO PHILEMON
THIS IS A PRIVATE LETTER ABOUT ONESIMUS, A SLAVE WHO HAD ROBBED HIS MASTER, PHILEMON, AND RUN AWAY TO ROME.PAUL SENT HIM BACK ASKING THAT ONESIMUS BE FORGIVEN BY PHILEMON AS A FELLOW CHRISTIAN.
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE HEBREWS
THIS LETTER WAS WRITTEN TO JEWISH MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH TO DEMONSTRATE TO THEM THAT THE LAW OF MOSES, AS A FORERUNNER, HAD BEEN FULFILLED IN CHRIST AND THAT THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST HAD REPLACED IT.
HEBREWS CHAPTER 1 SYNOPSIS:
PAUL AGAIN MAKES IT CLEAR THAT JESUS CREATED THE EARTH AND THE HEAVENS. (UNDER THE DIRECTION OF GOD THE FATHER.)
CHRIST IS ABOVE THE ANGELS IN RANK OF CREATION.
ANGELS ARE MINISTERING SPIRITS TO MINISTER TO THOSE WHO WILL INHERIT SALVATION.
HEBREWS CHAPTER 2 SYNOPSIS:
MAN IS A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS IN RANK OF CREATION.
ON JESUS —
“FORASMUCH THEN AS THE CHILDREN ARE PARTAKERS OF FLESH AND BLOOD, HE ALSO HIMSELF LIKEWISE TOOK PART OF THE SAME; THAT THROUGH DEATH HE MIGHT DESTROY HIM THAT HAD THE POWER OF DEATH, THAT IS, THE DEVIL: AND DELIVER THEM WHO THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH WERE ALL THEIR LIFETIME SUBJECT TO BONDAGE.”
“FOR IN THAT HE (JESUS) HIMSELF HAS SUFFERED BEING TEMPTED, HE IS ABLE TO SUCCOUR THEM THAT ARE TEMPTED.”
HEBREWS CHAPTER 3 SYNOPSIS:
CHRIST IS THE APOSTLE AND HIGH PRIEST.
PAUL WARNS THE SAINTS OF UNBELIEF. UNBELIEVERS SHALL NOT ENTER THE LORD’S REST.
HEBREWS CHAPTER 4 SYNOPSIS:
PAUL REMINDS THE HEBREWS THAT THE GOSPEL WAS OFFERED TO ANCIENT ISRAEL.
(COMMENTARY: AN ATTEMPT TO TEACH THE JEWS HIGHER PRINCIPLES THAN THE LAW HAPPENED WITH THE PATRIARCHS. THE ANCIENT JEWS WERE NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND AND THE LESSER LAW WAS GIVEN.)
HE ALSO SPEAKS ON JESUS —
“FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS QUICK AND POWERFUL, AND SHARPER THAN ANY TWO-EDGED SWORD, PIERCING EVEN TO THE DIVIDING ASUNDER OF SOUL AND SPIRIT, AND OF THE JOINTS AND MARROW, AND IS A DISCERNER OF THE THOUGHTS AND INTENTS OF THE HEART.”
PAUL SAYS OF JESUS —
HE WAS “IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED LIKE AS WE ARE, YET WITHOUT SIN.”
HEBREWS CHAPTER 5 SYNOPSIS:
MINISTERS MUST BE CALLED OF GOD AS WAS AARON.
(COMMENTARY: HOW MANY MODERN MINISTERS HAVE HAD GOD PERSONALLY CONTACT THEM BY WAY OF DREAMS, VISIONS, OR THE WHISPERINGS OF THE HOLY GHOST TO SERVE? LIKELY FEW. PAUL MAKES IT CLEAR HERE – ONE HAS TO HAVE A SUPERNATURAL CALLING, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY!)
PAUL GIVES THE EXAMPLE OF MILK BEFORE MEAT~
“FOR WHEN FOR THE TIME YOU OUGHT TO BE TEACHERS, YOU HAVE NEED THAT ONE TEACH YOU AGAIN WHICH BE THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD; AND ARE BECOME SUCH AS HAVE NEED OF MILK, AND NOT OF STRONG MEAT.”
(COMMENTARY: MILK = BASIC PRINICPLES OF THE GOSPEL; MEAT = ADVANCED MYSTERIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE GOSPELS)
“FOR EVERY ONE THAT USES MILK IS UNSKILLFUL IN THE WORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: FOR HE IS A BABE. BUT STRONG MEAT BELONGS TO THEM THAT ARE FULL OF AGE, EVEN THOSE WHO BY REASON OF USE HAVE THEIR SENSES EXERCISED TO DISCERN BOTH GOOD AND EVIL.”
HEBREWS CHAPTER 6 SYNOPSIS:
PAUL TELLS US THAT AT SOME POINT IN OUR DURATION AS A SAINT (MEMBER OF THE CHURCH) WE SHOULD LEAVE (OR SURPASS) THE BASIC DOCTRINE OF CHRIST AND MOVE ON TO PERFECTION IN HIM (JESUS.)
PAUL MAKES IT CLEAR—
IF A MAN FALL AWAY FROM THE GOSPEL AFTER HAVING BEEN ONCE ENLIGHTENED, THIS ACT IS EQUAL TO CRUCIFYING THEMSELVES TO CHRIST AND PUTTING HIM TO AN OPEN SHAME.
HEBREWS CHAPTER 7 SYNOPSIS:
PAUL SPEAKS OF MELCHIZEDEK, THE HIGH PRIEST OF SALEM WHO BLESSED ABRAHAM, AS ABRAHAM PAID HIM HIS TITHES TO GOD.
HE MAKES IT PLAIN THAT SALVATION DOES NOT COME THROUGH THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE LEVITES.
“FOR THE PRIESTHOOD BEING CHANGED, THERE IS MADE OF NECESSITY A CHANGE ALSO OF THE LAW.”
THERE WOULD ARISE ANOTHER PRIEST AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK, JESUS CHRIST.
(THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD = LAW OF MOSES/OLD TESTAMENT COVENANT;
THE MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD = THE NEW TESTAMENT COVENANT)
HEBREWS CHAPTER 8 SYNOPSIS:
PAUL TELLS THE HEBREW SAINTS – (IMPORTANT SO HERE IS THE ENTIRE TEXT HERE)
Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.
3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer.
4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.
5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
8 But God found fault with the people and said:
“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
HEBREWS CHAPTER 9 SYNOPSIS:
THE MOSAIC ORDINANCES (ESPECIALLY THE BLOOD SACRIFICE OF ANIMALS) PREFIGURED THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST.
PAUL TELLS WHY CHRIST HAD TO DIE FOR MEN –
“FOR WHERE A TESTAMENT IS, THERE MUST ALSO OF NECESSITY BE THE DEATH OF THE TESTATOR. FOR A TESTAMENT IS OF FORCE AFTER MEN ARE DEAD: OTHERWISE IT IS OF NO STRENGTH AT ALL WHILE THE TESTATOR LIVES. WHEREUPON NEITHER THE FIRST TESTAMENT WAS DEDICATED WITHOUT BLOOD.”
PAUL ALSO STATES—
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
HEBREW CHAPTER 10 SYNOPSIS:
PAUL REMINDS THE HEBREW CONVERTS —
” . . . WE ARE SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST ONCE FOR ALL.”
PAUL GOES ON TO SAY—
“FOR IF WE SIN WILLFULLY AFTER THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, THERE REMAINS NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SINS.”
PAUL STATES THAT SAINTS WHO FALL AWAY HAVE NOTHING MORE TO LOOK FORWARD TO THAN THE JUDGEMENT OF FIERY INDIGNATION AND THE VENGEANCE OF CHRIST UPON THEM.
“NOW THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH: BUT IF ANY MAN DRAW BACK, MY SOUL SHALL HAVE NO PLEASURE IN HIM.”
HEBREW CHAPTER 11 SYNOPSIS:
“NOW FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN.”
“BUT WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE HIM, DOE HE WHO COMES TO GOD MUST BELIEVE THAT HE IS, AND THAT HE IS A REWARDER OF THOSE WHO DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM.
THE FAITH OF ABEL, ENOCH, NOAH, ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH AND MOSES WAS CENTERED IN CHRIST ANCIENTLY.
HEBREWS CHAPTER 12 SYNOPSIS:
PAUL REMINDS THE HEBREW SAINTS —
“FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE CHASTENS, AND SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.
IF YOU ENDURE CHASTENING, GOD DEALS WITH YOU AS WITH SONS, FOR WHAT IS HE WHOM THE FATHER CHASTENS NOT?
BUT IF YOU BE WITHOUT CHASTISEMENT (NOT WILLING TO TAKE IT), WHEREOF ALL ARE PARTAKERS, THEN YOU ARE BASTARDS, AND NOT SONS.”
PAUL REMINDS THEM—
“PURSUE PEACE WITH ALL MEN, AND HOLINESS, WITHOUT WHICH NO ONE WILL SEE THE LORD.
PAUL ALSO REMINDS THEM OF THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST –
“WHOSE VOICE SHOOK THE EARTH: BUT NOW HE HAS PROMISED, SAYING, YET ONCE MORE I SHAKE NOT THE EARTH ONLY, BUT ALSO HEAVEN.”
PAUL FINISHES THE CHAPTER WITH —“FOR OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE.”
(COMMENTARY: CHRIST WILL RETURN IN THE SECOND COMING AS A CONSUMING FIRE.)
HEBREWS CHAPTER 13 SYNOPSIS:
PAUL TELLS THE HEBREWS —
“BE NOT FORGETFUL TO ENTERTAIN STRANGERS: FOR THEREBY SOME HAVE ENTERTAINED ANGELS UNAWARE.”
“LET YOUR CONVERSATION BE WITHOUT COVETOUSNESS; AND BE CONTENT WITH SUCH THINGS AS YOU HAVE: FOR HE HAS SAID, I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU, NOR FORSAKE YOU.”
PAUL REMINDS US THAT “JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, AND TODAY, AND FOREVER.”
NEXT . . . THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES